Lori Parks: Last News

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Tony nominee Corey Hawkins will star in the Broadway play Topdog/Underdog.Written by Suzan-Lori Parks, the play will run for four months; beginning on October 20 at the John Golden Theatre. In 2001, Parks’ Topdog/Underdog won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, making her the first African-America woman to receive that award.The original Broadway production of Topdog/Underdog debuted April 7, 2002.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Carmelo Anthony has come on as an executive producer of “The Harder They Come,” a new stage musical that is about to finish a sold-out run at New York’s Public Theater. In addition, Anthony’s long-time business partner Asani Swann, who co-founded the basketball star’s production company Creative 7, will also serve as an executive producer on the show. They are joining the production as it looks to find a regional theater where it hopes to fine-tune the show before possibly mounting a Broadway return. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, best known for “Topdog/Underdog,” penned the adaptation of the 1972 Jamaican crime film. That movie and now the show feature music from Reggae icon Jimmy Cliff. Also involved is Justine Henzell, whose father Perry Henzell co-wrote and directed the movie.

Twenty years after it first arrived to shake up a complacent Broadway and make a Pulitzer Prize winner of its author Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog has lost none of its vitality and power and cunning. Director Kenny Leon proves that in a vibrant new production opening tonight at the Golden Theatre.